Ian’s Legal Fact of the Week 2/18/19: The Fugitive Slave Clause

The Fugitive Slave Clause is found in Article 4, Clause 3 of the Constitution, which states that “No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.” While never repealed — an attempt to do so in 1864 failed — the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment invalidated this provision.

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